About 100,000 citizens celebrated Christmas on the main
city square last night. The gathering was organized by
Zajedno Coalition, and completely blocked by the police
forces.

Representatives of the Zajedno Coalition presented the
citizens with the following information last night:
members of the police forces who were wearing civil
clothing while beating up people on December 27, 1996,
were also among Slobodan Milosevic's bodyguards during
his contra-rallies on December 24, 1996. A detailed
professional analysis of the video-tapes, providing
proofs to the claim, is in progress.

Vuk Draskovic, the leader of SPO, reminded the gathered
that the main city square, where the rally was held
back on March 9, 1991, during the first numerous
opposition demonstrations in Belgrade, was then given
the name of Liberty Square. Draskovic, however,
stressed, that the liberty is yet to come:

"Citizens are calling us from South Africa, New
Zealand, America...and asking when they can return to
their country. My answer is: as soon as She and He are
gone.

The refugees are asking whether there is hope for
them to ever return to their homelands, their homes and
their fields. My answer is: the homecoming and
reconciliation will start as soon as She and He are
gone.

The farmer is asking: What is this, I am hungry
while the land is fertile? They say that a French
farmer makes 10,000 DM per month, and they ask whether
that will ever happen in Serbia. My answer is: it
will, as soon as She and He are gone.

The retired are asking when they will start getting
good and regular pensions, so that they no longer have
to hide from their grandchildren that they only eat
bread and have no money for the milk. And my answer
is: it will be getting worse and worse, if She and He
are not gone.

The workers are on a forced leave, and even those
who supposedly work, but who receive extremely low
salaries, are asking when the factories will start with
their production. They never will, unless She and He
are gone.

And they are still not gone!"

Draskovic stressed as very important that Montenegro
clearly declared that there will be no more waiting and
no more tolerance towards the dictatorship of one
woman.

The SPO leader informed the citizens at the end of his
last night's speech that there is an action planned for
today, January 8, where citizens would again block the
traffic in downtown Belgrade with their automobiles.
That action is an expression of protest against the
fact that strong police forces are again preventing the
citizens' protest walk on the streets of the city.

After the last night's Christmas rally, the
participants were approaching the police cordons and,
by kisses and kind word trying to establish a contact
with the police and wish them a merry Christmas.
Despite such actions, the police only allowed the
protest walk on Knez Mihailova street, a part of the
Belgrade walking zone.